From “synthetic” to defined microbial communities for clearer terminology
Consortia of microbial isolates, also known as synthetic communities (SynComs), are increasingly used to study and harness microbe-microbe and microbe-host interactions. Since “synthetic” potentially evokes negative connotations, we propose adopting the term “Defined Microbial Community” for practical applications.
Authors
- Omri M. Finkel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4770-0402)
- Julia A. Vorholt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6011-4910)
- Tomislav Cernava (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7772-4080)
- Corné M. J. Pieterse (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5473-4646)
- Órla O’Sullivan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4332-1109)
- Tanja Kostić (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4972-4141)
- Stéphane Chaillou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2229-0697)
- Hauke Smidt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6138-5026)
- Thomas Clavel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7229-5595)
- Jesús Mercado‐Blanco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1895-5895)
- Trevor C. Charles (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0344-5932)
- Malek Marian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6945-2732)
- Lene Lange (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5336-1155)
- Gwyn A. Beattie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0531-6843)
- Angela Sessitsch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0137-930X)
- Marco Candela (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7420-790X)
- Cintia Mayr
- Luca Cocolin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4799-7074)
- Ákos T. Kovács (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4465-1636)
- Paul D. Cotter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5465-9068)
- Yolanda Sanz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1615-1976)
- Michael Schloter
- Benjamin L. Coltman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8573-0229)
- Robert D. Finn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8626-2148)
- Brajesh K. Singh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4413-4185)
- Pankaj Trivedi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0173-2804)
- Günter Brader
- Hanna Koch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8550-9871)
- Christopher E. Lawson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3473-1640)
- Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6499-576X)
- Kalliope K. Papadopoulou
- Gabriele Berg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9423-3101)
- Matthew Ryan
Institutions
- Leiden University (NL)
- Texas Tech University (US)
- University of Vienna (AT)
- CAB International (GB)
- European Bioinformatics Institute (GB)
- AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH (AT)
- Teagasc - The Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority (IE)
- University of Thessaly (GR)
- University of Waterloo (CA)
- Iowa State University (US)
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Utrecht University (NL)
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Microbiologie de l’alimentation au service de la santé (FR)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Graz University of Technology (AT)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- Estación Experimental del Zaidín (ES)
- Institute of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (DE)
- Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (ES)
- Universitätsklinikum Aachen (DE)
- Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia (AU)
- Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (ES)
- APC Microbiome Institute (IE)
- Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NO)
- Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (DE)
- University of Southampton (GB)
- University of Turin (IT)
- King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (TH)
- King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok (TH)
- Wellcome Trust (GB)
- RWTH Aachen University (DE)
- Wageningen University & Research (NL)
- University of Bologna (IT)
- Delft University of Technology (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-06-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-74251-1
- Primary Topic
- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- European Commission
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Austrian Science Fund
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme